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Monday, October 25, 2010

Soap Rebatched.

I've wanted to make my own soap for awhile now, and have asked some of my soap making friends about their adventures. I've yet to order any lye, though I hear that Lowes' carries 100% Lye under a different name, I'll find out for sure tomorrow if this is true or rumor. Until then I've been rebatching soap.

Why rebatch? Ever been given soap as a gift? Or picked up a bar in a store that you thought would smell great only to find it smells like something grotesque when applied to your skin? You can rebatch to make different scents or to combine smaller pieces of soap back into a bigger size to use up.

I rebatch to ADD in a scent that I like but have yet to find in any store anywhere....Strawberries and Champagne. Oh heaven, I use this scents in my candles as well. I've never gotten sick of it and visitors to my humble house are always asking what fragrance is that???

Rebatching soap is simply and only 4 steps from start to finish. Here we go!

STEP 1: If you're going to rebatch soap for a scent you like then start with two bars of Ivory soap. (If you're going to use soap you've already got that already has a scent to it skip to step 2.

STEP 2: Unwrap you bars of soap, and grate them with a cheese grater. You want about 3 cups of grated soap.

STEP 3: Bring 1/2 cup of water to a boil.

STEP 4: Pour 1/2 cup of boiling water over the grated soap and stir gently. Now is the time to add in any fragrance you like or want to experiment with. Just a few drops to start with and if it's not strong enough add one or two more at a time.

STEP 5: Roll into balls any size you like. Place on wax paper and let dry for 2-3 days. (I forgot to let my batch sit for 20 minutes once I added in the boiling water so they rolled out a little rougher than usual. If you pull an oops like I did you can simply grate these down once they are dry and start the process over again, but only add in 1/4 cup of boiling water)